Mini Targets

[dellybelly]

Can I just say, I've notice some people have mini targets that are to lose 10% of your weight or something like that.
a small target that is less than 7lbs (most milestones at WW are 1/2 stone) is a good mini target..

I thought the purpose of a mini target was just that- it was a miniscule amount of weight to lose so that you felt you'd reached a milestone and keep up your motivation.... for example:

1/2 lb to my first 7lb off
1lb to lose my first stone
1.5lbs to get my BMI below xx
3lbs to meet the monthly challenge -

that kind of thing.

I always thought a mini target should be something small that you can easily achieve in 1-4 weeks so that you have a sense of focus and purpose and a realistic achieveable short term goal instead of "oh no, I have so much weight to lose.... it's never going to come off"


What does everyone else think? (of course, you can just give me a good slap if you think I'm being too cheeky/bossy/downright rude).

 

[Starlight]

No Im with you Edel, all my mini targets are under half a stone. I want it to be something I can feasibly do within a few weeks then change to my next one

 

[dellybelly]

See- that's why the monthly challenge is only 5lbs. It's a very realistic figure, that can be fairly easily achieved in 4-5 weeks.

 

[pandora]

i don't know this is in reference to me setting up my 26 week challenge ( & if it is i'm not offended or anything ) but the reasoning behind this was, last year i lost just under 6st on CD & i've put just less than 1/2 of it back on, which obviously is not good.
i couldn't work out why i had allowed myself to do it or why i couldn't seem to get back on track to getting rid of it again.
Through the NLP forum i spoke to Mike about it & he said that initially i had set a goal of not being fat at 40 & had achieved that, but then not set myself any further goals ie to slill be that weight in 2 months time etc. So i set my self the goal to banish those pesky pounds for good this year & my birthday seemed like a good target to aim for.
i do still set myself mini goals, they just arn't in my signature.
xx

 

[Russiandoll]

Sorry for crashing your WW post but a lot of people who set 10% goals (such as myself) are on VLCDs ... setting a mini goal of 5lb would be a bit pointless as many people would achieve that in around a week.

I tend to set my goals on several levels ... all running parallel. A mini-mini goal (mine is 12lb by Feb 1st), a slightly bigger goal (10%) and an ultimate goal (around 8st).

I think the bottom line is we need to just set goals that we are comfortable with as individuals.

 

[dellybelly]

i don't know this is in reference to me setting up my 26 week challenge ( & if it is i'm not offended or anything ) but the reasoning behind this was, last year i lost just under 6st on CD & i've put just less than 1/2 of it back on, which obviously is not good.
i couldn't work out why i had allowed myself to do it or why i couldn't seem to get back on track to getting rid of it again.
Through the NLP forum i spoke to Mike about it & he said that initially i had set a goal of not being fat at 40 & had achieved that, but then not set myself any further goals ie to slill be that weight in 2 months time etc. So i set my self the goal to banish those pesky pounds for good this year & my birthday seemed like a good target to aim for.
i do still set myself mini goals, they just arn't in my signature.
xx

Oh dear, Pandora. I didn't mean anyone specifically and I'm sorry if my thread's offended you. I've just been looking through other people's threads and seen signatures that say .....goal 1 : lose 10% of my bodyweight....... there's quite a few people out there who do that.

As for your 26 week challenge - if you'd read my thread, I'm on a 20 week challenge to my Goddaughter's First Communion in June. I'd really love to lose between 30 and 40lbs. There's nothing wrong with having long term goals too, it's just that I personally get so caught up in how much I have to lose that I've given up before and have found teeny tiny miniscule targets that can be achieved in little or no time to be so motivating. I'm basically cutting my 40lb long term target into bite sized chunks that are more manageable for me in the shorter term.

For me I need to look just for the next week and have a mini goal for that. Sometimes getting caught up in the amount of weight you have to lose can be counter productive.

 

[Starlight]

I dont think you really can compare losses or targets on a VLCD and WW.

I do agree with Edel though that on WW 10% is probably quite a lot and it IS better to have something thats within your grasp.

I dont see any harm in running mini targets in tandem with longer range ones like the 26 week one after all lets face it were setting mini targets within our final target which is our goal weight.

Whatever keeps us all focussed and on track is the main thing

 

[dellybelly]

Sorry for crashing your WW post but a lot of people who set 10% goals (such as myself) are on VLCDs ... setting a mini goal of 5lb would be a bit pointless as many people would achieve that in around a week.

I tend to set my goals on several levels ... all running parallel. A mini-mini goal (mine is 12lb by Feb 1st), a slightly bigger goal (10%) and an ultimate goal (around 8st).

I think the bottom line is we need to just set goals that we are comfortable with as individuals.

I agree Russiandoll in one respect - that goals should be what people are comfortable with, in another respect, I mostly post on the WW forum and we don't usually lose massive amounts of weight after the first week. It can be quite disheartening once your weightloss has dropped to 1 or 2lbs per week to think that to lose 10% of your bodyweight (for me it's 24lbs) could take me 6 months or more. It wasn't intended to be a criticism of ANYONE, just something that I've noticed on people who post on the WW forum that may prove to be counterproductive if you are following the WW plan long term.

I have absolutley no experience of VLCDs and couldn't possibly comment.

 

[Russiandoll]

I wasn't suggesting for one minute that others should use the 10% goal as a benchmark - nor was I criticising anyone for setting smaller goals. I was merely giving a possible explanation as to why there are a lot of 10 percenters around. Remember that not everyone sticks to their own specific forums but float around (nosey people like me ) so you may have seen the 10% goal on the sig of wandering VLCDers.

Having been on numerous mainstream diets, I appreciate how important it is to set small, achievable, motivating goals.

 

[pandora]

Oh dear, Pandora. I didn't mean anyone specifically and I'm sorry if my thread's offended you.
Don't worry hun, i wasn't offended in the least, just thought i'd explain my reasoninig & had forgotten about you 20 week challenge
As for your 26 week challenge - if you'd read my thread, I'm on a 20 week challenge to my Goddaughter's First Communion in June. I'd really love to lose between 30 and 40lbs. There's nothing wrong with having long term goals too, it's just that I personally get so caught up in how much I have to lose that I've given up before and have found teeny tiny miniscule targets that can be achieved in little or no time to be so motivating.
I can empathise with this totally, that s why i was overweight for so long, 6-7st seems such a mountain.I'm basically cutting my 40lb long term target into bite sized chunks that are more manageable for me in the shorter term.

For me I need to look just for the next week and have a mini goal for that. Sometimes getting caught up in the amount of weight you have to lose can be counter productive.

as long as we get where we want & do it how we want, using whichever tools we choose THAT IS THE IMPORTANT THING
xx